Change work laws to push output, says professor

One of the country’s leading workplace relations academics is backing the resources sector’s argument that changes must be made to the system urgently.

Echoing calls from bodies such as the Australian Mines and Metals Association, Macquarie University professor Paul Gollan wants reform based around productivity improvement and reducing conflict.

Professor Gollan said enterprise bargaining agreements should be subject to “productivity enhancement potential" as a matter of ensuring Australia’s economic future and maintaining living standards.

He said: “A relatively high Australian dollar and greater competition in the international market have crystallised the importance for Australia to reconsider the real economic and workplace issues associated with increasing our productivity.

“However, the recent increase in strike action and the use of lockouts by employers have highlighted the adversarial nature of the Fair Work Act. Unions have also resisted calls for a way forward in linking productivity with wage increases. This urgently requires government action," he said.

The professor, who will speak at the AMMA’s national conference in Perth today, has conducted two academic reviews of the industrial relations environment through a “business" lens, in 2009 and this year.

His co-authored submission to the Fair Work Review Panel, which is preparing its final report, called for greater workplace consultation and information arrangements to facilitate innovative and productive workplace cultures.

Professor Gollan has also recommended that legislation be implemented to place greater pre-conditions on the ability for unions to take protected industrial action.